The present invention relates to a reuseable aerospace vehicle capable of suborbital, orbital and space flight and particularly to the application of an elongated general elliptical flying wing having multiple propulsion systems each being capable of independent or coupled rotation of their respective directions of thrust relative to the longitudinal axis of the wing and therefore the angle of attack of the wing member to the direction of flight of the vehicle.
The concept of a wing member being directably controllable relative to the flight direction, hereinafter sometimes referred as swing-wing or oblique wing, has been reported in articles by Robert T. Jones, in Acta Astronautica, entitled "The oblique Wing--Aircraft Design for Transsonic and Low Supersonic Speeds", printed in 1977, by G. H. Lee in The Airplane and Astronautics, entitled "Slewed-wing Supersonics", in 1961, and by Robert T. Jones in U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,535. These articles concluded that at transsonic speeds, a conventional "subsonic" wing turned at an oblique angle to the flow demonstrated lift-drag ratios higher than conventional swept-back or delta-wings. When returned to its straight position, perpendicular to the flow, such a wing minimizes the display of energy and noise in the airport environment. These articles reported that turning the wing as a unit about a pivot at the fuselage is definitely superior to the usual variable sweep arrangement, both structurally and aerodynamically. By setting the wing in a straight position one can minimize the power and hence the noise during takeoff. On short flights, where speed is not all important, the wing may be kept in the straight position to maximize fuel economy. For longer overland flights, the aircraft may be trimmed to fly just below the speed of sound, "sonic boom speed limit" of approximately 760 miles per hour ground speed. For transoceanic flight, the sweep angle may be set for a flight Mach number well into the supersonic range. These articles concluded that oblique wing aircraft, having the capacity to swing the wing between positions, minimizes drag on the wing and enhance aircraft stability.
While the swing-wing concept has been applied to standard aircraft, there has been little or no application of the swing-wing concept to orbital vehicles, spacecraft, launch vehicles, or other types of rocket-powered devices. In present winged spacecraft technology, the fixed wings of the space shuttle are the state of the art. On the launch rockets themselves, only rudders or stabilizers are incorporated to achieve balance during liftoff. In practice, wings have not been employed in spacecraft other than the space shuttle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,028,122 and 3,120,361 of Riebe et al each relate to an aerospace vehicle in which an elongated hull section can be rotated between positions transverse to the flight direction and aligned with the flight direction. Motor pads are externally mounted midpoint on the hull section via pivotal mounts so as to project upwardly and downwardly from the hull and rotate about a central vertical axis of the hull. In the Riebe configuration, thrust is applied to a single point on the vehicle and therefore provides little or no aerodynamic control for the vehicle. Aerodynamic control and stability must be provided by conventional aerodynamic structures such as, for example, flaps, elevators and rudders.